To Heat it Up or Eat it Cold
by Exquisiteliltart
Summary: Swan Queen, one shot. Emma get a new job in Storybrooke that caters to her new skill set as the Dark One. She's the delivery girl for Gold's new pizza shop. (Written for the 300th member of the Swan Queen Fanfiction group on facebook.)


**A/N: This is a gift for, Irene, the 300** **th** **member of the "Swan Queen Fanfiction" group on facebook. Please join us for fic recs and discussions.**

…

"She doesn't want us to treat her any different," Snow whispered to Regina. Both of their faces were strangely blank, their bodies tense as they watched Emma, the Dark One, reacquaint herself with the Charming's apartment.

Regina simply nodded, but her expression became one of worry as she tightened her grip on the dagger.

Emma mustered a smile and took a deep breath. She swung her arms back and forth and looked between her mother and Regina. "So when do I go back to work?"

"Um..oh, Honey…." Snow started with a dismayed shake of her head.

There was no way that they could allow someone inherently evil to be the town Sheriff.

"You've been away from some time, Emma. Your previous position has already been filled," Regina clasped her hands together. She appeared soft and empathetic, but her tone was firm so Emma would understand.

"Right…okay," Emma seemed to mull the information over. Her eyes flashed hurtfully, and she drew her finger absently over the counter. Then she looked up again. "What am I supposed to do now?"

It never occurred to anyone that being the Dark One wasn't a full time job. Even Gold maintained dominance over the town and ran a business. Though since the end of his long tenure as the Dark One, and coming back from his heart cleaning coma his personality had changed drastically.

Snow wrinkled her brow and bit her bottom lip, so that her chin dimpled. Regina tilted her head and moved quickly into Emma's personal space. She still approached her with a bit of hesitancy, but she wasn't afraid of her. That was the thing she had learned fastest, Emma didn't want anyone to act afraid of her.

"Emma, perhaps you could take up a hobby to fill your time and keep your mind off of things," she tried to sell the blonde on the idea, but Emma seemed bored at the idea.

"What you want me to spend my time croqueting or gardening?" Emma's lips parted in annoyance. "I have skills, I'm relatively young…I want to do something useful."

"Okay, yes…we'll think of something," Snow crossed the room and placed a steadying hand on her daughter's cold skin. She felt different like the smell in the air before the first snow storm. Snow and Regina shared a look that Emma didn't seem to pick up on. They both knew the townspeople weren't going to hire Emma for any job. She was a pariah, and they were frightened, as they well should be. She had powers that no mortal possessed and a quick to anger temper.

Emma moved silently into the living room and threw herself down on the couch. Regina and Snow shuffled after her. They were actually proud of Emma. She had kept up a pretty good attitude in spite of turning slowly evil.

"What would you like to do?" Regina asked, wracking her brain for ideas.

"I don't know. I've never really known what I wanted to do. Things just sort of fell in my lap or came up for me." Emma quirked her lips and flipped on the TV. She craned her neck around Regina to better watch Judge Judy. "What is Gold doing now?"

"Um..he sort of had a mid-life crisis," Snow said uneasily. Her eyes slipped to the left, she was definitely leaving out the details.

Emma sniffed haughtily, "Did he upgrade his hooptie to a Camaro or something?"

"No, he got rid of all his worldly possessions and turned the pawn shop into a pizza restaurant," Regina filled in succinctly. "He said he always wanted to cook Italian, and Storybrooke had a need for his skills."

That really was all there was to it. Gold had given up all his ambitions for vengeance and manipulation and opened a pizza place. He and Belle were living the dream.

"Really? I love pizza!" Emma exclaimed with the most excitement that either of the other women in the room had seen since her return. "Do you think he would consider hiring me?"

Regina raised her eyebrows and pursed her lips at the suggestion. At first it sounded absolutely absurd, but if anyone in town was willing to employ the Dark One, it would most definitely be the former Dark One. He knew how it was.

Snow opened her mouth, but didn't speak. Emma continued. "I mean I know it was hard enough trying to get a legit job when I got paroled, but being the Dark One is probably like being a felon. Not many places are willing to take the risk."

"I think you should apply," Regina said encouragingly, and looked to Snow for her to agree.

"Yes, honey. It couldn't hurt. The worst he can say is no," Snow added with a faux enthusiasm.

If Emma noticed she didn't comment. She turned her face toward the ceiling in thought. Since becoming the Dark One she had picked up these slightly creepy mannerisms, like stroking her chin with her fingers. It was disconcerting, but it was the least of troubles.

"He won't say no. He'll hire me on the spot," Emma said with a sharp hostility, which made Regina flinch in concern.

"Because you'll threaten him?" Snow's mind immediately jumped to the worst conclusion. "Don't kill Belle, Emma. She's been used as a bargaining chip enough."

Snow glared at Regina pointedly.

Regina rolled her eyes and waved it off. "I've apologized for that."

"Mom, Regina, come on. I'm not saying that I'm going to kill anyone if I don't get the job…" she trailed off again in thought. Then she added under her breath, but clearly audibly, "not saying if it came down to it I might, but…no, I was thinking I have skills!"

"Well, you are inhumanly fast and can teleport at will so you'd probably make a great delivery girl," Snow had to agree with Emma's line of thinking.

"Yeah, and I can use my powers to cook the pizzas with magic in like two seconds. That would be awesome!" Emma jumped up from the couch and grabbed her jacket. Wearing a coat was just a habit as the Dark One was impervious to cold and heat, but Emma always did love to make a fashion statement. "I'm going to go talk to him right now."

"Emma…"

"I'm not going to kill or threaten anyone, mom. Chill."

…

It turned out that Gold was totally on board with the idea, and completely sympathetic to her. He reasoned that having a job would keep her mind off of all the scheming and killing that would be on a healthy and growing Dark One's mind. If she could channel her powers into something positive and apply herself, he felt that he could help her stay on the straight and narrow.

Emma proudly sported a red shirt and khakis, and pulled her hair into a ponytail for her first day on the job. "Gold's Pizza" emblazoned across her chest, Gold felt that his name should be big and eye catching. She looked at it in the mirror as she got ready. It didn't really scream authentic Italian, but fairytale people weren't really sticklers for authenticity.

Emma was worried. She had convinced Gold to give her a job, but what would be the reaction when she showed up and rang the doorbell at peoples' houses? She had to make sure that her customer service was top notch, and tamp down on her strong impulses to rip out anyone's throats.

So far she was doing well. She had worked with Regina on some breathing exercises that Dr. Hopper had taught her originally. Emma did a lot of counting in her head and a lot of deep breathing. Being the Dark One was a chronic condition, but with proper diet, exercise and self-care there was no reason that she'd have to give in to her urges.

Snow and Charming gave her a lovely ceremonial send off as she headed out for her first night of work. She was a perfect delivery woman because she loved staying up all night, and now found daylight almost blinding and painful. The good people of Storybrooke could order drunken pizza at 4am and Emma would be there.

Upon arriving at the shop, she got a few worried glances from the current patrons who were eating dinner, but no one feared her enough to actually abandon their food and leave the restaurant. That in itself was testament to how tasty Gold's Pizza was.

"Aww, Dark One. I'm pleased to have you in my service," Gold smiled, not unkindly. The wicked glint was gone from his eyes and replaced by some grandfatherly warmth. Emma cracked her neck and wondered if she could get a heart scraping cleanse sometime. "Why don't you start with phone duty, and acquaint yourself with the menu."

"Sure," Emma stated and sat down with a pad and paper, as she read over the menu. There were pasta dishes, salads, calzones and fried appetizers in addition to "Storyrbooke's best pizza." It was the only pizza in town so it wasn't a lie. Emma noticed that the menu referred to pizza as a tomato based meat pie. Also true.

The phone rang and she picked it up with her lightning fast reflexes. "Gold's Pizza: where we bring you a 'pizza' the action! This is Emma; may I take your order?"

"Hello, dear," Regina greeted her smoothly over the phone line.

"Hey, Regina! You're my first customer," Emma couldn't help but smile dreamily at the sound of Regina's voice.

"I know dear. Henry and I thought we'd try the pizza now that you're working there. I'd like a large pizza margherita with extra basil and some zucchini blossoms please."

"Awesome! I'll deliver it to you right away!" Emma hung up, and beamed happily feeling useful. She realized she forgot to give Regina a price, and she hadn't asked if she wanted it cooked by magic or by wood stove, but it was only her first order after all. A learning curve was to be expected.

"We have an order!" Emma told Gold, she looked over at the large oven where he was currently pulling a delicious, cheesy looking pizza out of the open flames. Emma loved fire. "It's for Regina and Henry so make it extra special!"

"Alright, dearie. I'll be sure to add a little bit of magic in to it!"

Emma handed over the order slip and Gold started tossing out the dough, and spreading the sauce as she watched. "Are you going to teach me how to make the pizzas too?"

"Of course, you can be my pizza apprentice. We'll have some nice clean fun," Gold chuckled and Emma tried to laugh along with him. It felt a bit rough and foreign to her, but she found she enjoyed being treated like a normal person for once. Regina was the only other person who did that.

When the pizza was finished, Gold boxed it up and gave Emma a pat on the back. "Why don't you take them some garlic knots on the house? And if you would like to stay and eat with them feel free. There's no need for you to hurry back. Monday night is notoriously slow."

Emma thanked Gold and teleported herself straight to Regina's kitchen. She had meant to land at the door step, but she was still trying to get control over her massive powers.

"Pizza's here," she announced and Regina rushed in a worry, but a smile instantly replaced her fear when she looked Emma over in her uniform.

She took the box of pizza and the garlic knots from Emma and called for Henry to come into the kitchen. "Emma and pizza are here!"

Henry came running, equally excited for both his blonde mother and hot and cheesy goodness.

Regina looked her over again with admiration. There was something about Dark Emma in a uniform that lulled and called to her from the darkside. She dropped her voice and stepped forward, caressing Emma's chest and tracing lightly over the words on her shirt.

Emma swallowed and did her deep breathing exercises. Whenever Regina was near she had a problem keeping control over some of her darker and more sexual thoughts. It turned out they kind of went hand in hand.

"Yeah, I can stay," Emma confirmed as a blush covered her cheeks. "Gold says hi, by the way. He threw in the garlic knots for free."

"Excellent," Regina breathed huskily, and then seemed to realize that her fingers were still kneading aimlessly at Emma. "My this pizza is really big. I'm glad you have an appetite, dear, because Henry and I can't possibly eat it all by ourselves."

"I do," Emma confirmed trailing after Regina as if she was in her thrall. Which, technically she was as Regina did hold the dagger that had the power to command and control her, but maybe they'd save those kinds of games for later on.

They sat in the living room to eat, which was a kind of big deal for Regina. She couldn't stand the thought of bright red sauce staining her white carpet. Henry put "Avengers" on blu ray and Emma thoroughly enjoyed the pizza and the normal atmosphere with two of the people she cared about most.

"I should be getting back," she said in dismay as she looked at the time.

"Do you have to go already, Emma?" Henry pouted his lip, and she felt her cold heart pulse a little warmer.

"She does, Henry," Regina confirmed. She turned her attention to Emma and added as she traced her arm, "unfortunately."

Emma shivered a bit at the touch, and the tone Regina used. She really felt like they wanted her to stay.

"You want me?" She asked in a trance, "I mean to stay… because I could always…"

"What time do you get off?" Regina interrupted.

"4am or so," Emma shrugged uncertain.

"Hmm, perfect," Regina licked her lips. "Why don't you stop by after your shift? You can transport yourself directly into my bedroom."

"Seriously?" Emma asked in disbelief. She had been flirting with Regina when they were in private and working on their very hands on magic control and self-care exercises, but she'd never received such a blatant invitation.

"Make sure you keep that uniform on," Regina reached out daringly and gave a firm squeeze to Emma's hip where her polo shirt was tucked into her pleated khakis and fastened with a belt.

"Oh, that I can do." Emma blushed in understanding, and suddenly regretted refusing to wear the Sheriff's uniform when she first started.

"Emma, do you like your leftover pizza cold or heated up?" Regina's eyes were dark and seductive. She was talking about food and Emma felt weak in the knees.

She gulped back her pleasant discomfort, "Cold."

"Perfect," Regina leaned forward and Emma could smell her perfume mixed with a buttery garlic scent. She hugged Emma close for the first time since she had become the Dark One. "I'm very proud of you, dear. You're doing so well."


End file.
